The hauling business was going great. We were moving appliances, furniture and household items from one place to another as well as just hauling away stuff people didn’t want anymore. As described in the previous post we were getting paid to haul, selling the nicer items on Craigslist, and selling clothes at a local consignment shop.
December of 2007 slowed down considerably, being cold and snowy and close to Christmas. Not much hauling at this point, but still plenty of items from previous jobs to sort through in Toby’s garage and clean and sell on Craigslist.
Then it came. A clean out request from the owner of a duplex. It was now January in Iowa, and the owner had seen our ad on Craigslist and called Toby. It was urgent, he said, to get this place cleaned out and back on the market. Could we help? Toby went to visit the duplex and gave a bid. Another hauler had bid less, but the owner really liked Toby’s attitude. Could Toby match the other, lesser bid? If so, he would sure like to hire us. Toby said yes, and we were hired.
We showed up a couple days later to do the job and walked through the duplex. The renters had skipped out, taking their essentials and leaving basically a full house behind. Our bid had been based on the amount of pickup truckloads it would take us to clean the place out. After the first two pickup loads it became very apparent that there was no way this was going to happen with our two trucks and in one day. The owner was showing the duplex to prospective renters that night and we had told him we could handle it. What to do?
We decided the only way out was to get a bigger truck. Off to the local U-Haul where we rented a 14 foot truck. Back to the duplex where for the rest of the afternoon we worked on the clean out. The basement was the worst. The previous renters had accumulated so many clothes that they had to store them in gigantic totes. We took turns up and down those stairs, carrying the giant totes, boxes and miscellaneous junk.
Into the U-Haul truck it all went, including two washers, a dryer, a huge couch, kitchen table, chairs, small tables, dishes, the entire contents of the duplex. Finally, the U-Haul was full, from top to bottom, front to back. It was packed so full we had to struggle to pull the back door down. But the duplex was still not empty, and the landlord called to tell us he was on the way over with the prospective new renters. I backed my truck up and we finished the job filling it up, while the landlord was showing the duplex to some people that were eyeing us and the situation rather suspiciously.
The job totaled three pickup truck loads and a packed to the gills 14’ U-Haul. He paid us the $200 we had WAY underbid for the job. Minus $100 for the U-Haul this backbreaking job brought us each a whopping $50 each. There was no way we could just take all of this stuff to the dump. We had to keep it, sort through it and sell what we could to recoup at least the cost of the U-Haul. We drove the perfect junk storm over to Toby’s double garage, unloaded it and stood there staring at a now packed garage, wondering what we had gotten ourselves into and how to begin getting out.
Friday
Saturday
First Attempts
I worked for over 18 years for the same employer for pretty good pay. Like many of us I hung on, year after year, figuring at least I was paying the bills and, yawn, saving up some money.
I got along well with my coworkers and my boss. My job with customer service and administration had been very fast paced and stressful. When I took an IT position it turned out to be a boring, behind the scenes job. I was ready for a change, but not one I would make all on my own. Then came the news that we were being outsourced. Read the previous post for that story.
Once it was over, I had to decompress from the 9 to 5 routine. It was strange at first not getting up to go to work. Then it was really nice. Then it got boring. It was now in the fall of 2007 and I needed to figure out what I was going to do.
My nephew Toby came over for a visit one night and we brainstormed about what we could do together to make some cash. It had to be something with almost zero overhead and start-up costs. We both had pickup trucks, and I had discovered craigslist.org. The light bulb went off! Let’s use the trucks we already have and advertise on craigslist to provide hauling services.
I went to the website for our landfill to find out what they accepted and what they charged for dumping to give us an idea of what to charge our customers. We decided that in most cases we would just double what the dump charged. We now had a quote sheet.
I wrote up some short, to the point ad copy and got a free Gmail account with the name of our service as the address (ourservice@gmail.com). I opened a free account with Craigslist using the gmail address as our email contact and Toby’s
cell number as our phone contact. He would take any phone calls and I would handle the email inquiries. We would split all costs and profits 50/50. We were ready. I posted the first ad on craigslist and we waited for a response.
It came pretty quickly, and within a few weeks we were scheduling several jobs a week. We noticed right away that occasionally people wanted us to get rid of some pretty nice stuff along with the junk. Usually they were tired of looking at it and just wanted it all gone, the good with the bad. We decided that what ever we didn’t keep personally we would store in Toby’s double garage to sell…on craigslist! I got another Gmail address, took some photos of our newly acquired treasures and began to post them. We were now selling online. We would also come across boxes, sacks and totes full of clothes. We sorted them out, opened an account with a local consignment shop and began taking the nicer clothes there while donating the rest to Goodwill or Salvation Army. We now had three streams of income and had reduced our landfill expenses by making fewer trips. This was working great! Too bad we didn’t see what was looming in front of us, just waiting to mess up our system.
Next: The Perfect Junk Storm
I got along well with my coworkers and my boss. My job with customer service and administration had been very fast paced and stressful. When I took an IT position it turned out to be a boring, behind the scenes job. I was ready for a change, but not one I would make all on my own. Then came the news that we were being outsourced. Read the previous post for that story.
Once it was over, I had to decompress from the 9 to 5 routine. It was strange at first not getting up to go to work. Then it was really nice. Then it got boring. It was now in the fall of 2007 and I needed to figure out what I was going to do.
My nephew Toby came over for a visit one night and we brainstormed about what we could do together to make some cash. It had to be something with almost zero overhead and start-up costs. We both had pickup trucks, and I had discovered craigslist.org. The light bulb went off! Let’s use the trucks we already have and advertise on craigslist to provide hauling services.
I went to the website for our landfill to find out what they accepted and what they charged for dumping to give us an idea of what to charge our customers. We decided that in most cases we would just double what the dump charged. We now had a quote sheet.
I wrote up some short, to the point ad copy and got a free Gmail account with the name of our service as the address (ourservice@gmail.com). I opened a free account with Craigslist using the gmail address as our email contact and Toby’s
cell number as our phone contact. He would take any phone calls and I would handle the email inquiries. We would split all costs and profits 50/50. We were ready. I posted the first ad on craigslist and we waited for a response.
It came pretty quickly, and within a few weeks we were scheduling several jobs a week. We noticed right away that occasionally people wanted us to get rid of some pretty nice stuff along with the junk. Usually they were tired of looking at it and just wanted it all gone, the good with the bad. We decided that what ever we didn’t keep personally we would store in Toby’s double garage to sell…on craigslist! I got another Gmail address, took some photos of our newly acquired treasures and began to post them. We were now selling online. We would also come across boxes, sacks and totes full of clothes. We sorted them out, opened an account with a local consignment shop and began taking the nicer clothes there while donating the rest to Goodwill or Salvation Army. We now had three streams of income and had reduced our landfill expenses by making fewer trips. This was working great! Too bad we didn’t see what was looming in front of us, just waiting to mess up our system.
Next: The Perfect Junk Storm
Monday
A Little Background
For my next post I thought I should give a little personal background. I live in Iowa, have been married 23 years and have two grown kids in college. My wife works for a large hospital and I, well, I guess I do this for now.
I worked for a large insurance company for over 18 years, first in administration and customer service, then in IT. In 2006 we got word that the building I had worked in during the entire 18 years was condemned and the land sold to build a parking garage. Not to worry, though, they were going to relocate us.
The next year, on Groundhog Day, a meeting was called and we were told all of the departments in the building were being outsourced but mine, with a few other select people retaining their positions. I could not believe it! Not the outsourcing, we had been warned for years that might occur. It was the fact that I would have to stay on and move to a new location with a new boss and new duties while most all of my coworkers were now being forced to move on. I wanted to move on, too! I wanted to go down with the ship, collect my severance and transition, and find something else to do. My IT position had become stale after the first couple years, and I was on my sixth.
I went to my boss, presented my case, and asked to be let go. After a couple months of nail biting waiting for a decision, both the old boss and the new boss decided that if that is what I wanted, they would do what they could to make it happen. A few more weeks and finally I got the news I had asked for: I would be offered the same severance and transition package and was given the same termination date in July of 2007. Whew! What a relief.
My wife was supportive of my decision. We had paid off the house a couple years earlier and had been sticking away in savings the amount per month we had been paying on our mortgage. We had very little in credit card debt, owned all of our vehicles and had been putting money into some Roth IRA’s and mutual funds outside of the 401(k) I had built up at work. We could add myself and the kids to my wife’s health insurance policy at the hospital, where we had also been contributing to her 403(b). On top of all that my severance and transition package, after over 18 years, was substantial.
Finally, that day in July arrived. One by one we all signed our release papers, turned them into the boss, and walked out the door for the last time. In the parking lot we said our goodbyes, shook hands or hugged, got in our vehicles and drove away. As I was driving home from work that last time I felt a mix of relief and sadness. Relief that it was over and sadness that it was likely many of us would drift apart. And in the back of my mind was a little voice whispering, “Be careful what you ask for, because you just might get it.”
Next up: What in the world am I going to do now?
I worked for a large insurance company for over 18 years, first in administration and customer service, then in IT. In 2006 we got word that the building I had worked in during the entire 18 years was condemned and the land sold to build a parking garage. Not to worry, though, they were going to relocate us.
The next year, on Groundhog Day, a meeting was called and we were told all of the departments in the building were being outsourced but mine, with a few other select people retaining their positions. I could not believe it! Not the outsourcing, we had been warned for years that might occur. It was the fact that I would have to stay on and move to a new location with a new boss and new duties while most all of my coworkers were now being forced to move on. I wanted to move on, too! I wanted to go down with the ship, collect my severance and transition, and find something else to do. My IT position had become stale after the first couple years, and I was on my sixth.
I went to my boss, presented my case, and asked to be let go. After a couple months of nail biting waiting for a decision, both the old boss and the new boss decided that if that is what I wanted, they would do what they could to make it happen. A few more weeks and finally I got the news I had asked for: I would be offered the same severance and transition package and was given the same termination date in July of 2007. Whew! What a relief.
My wife was supportive of my decision. We had paid off the house a couple years earlier and had been sticking away in savings the amount per month we had been paying on our mortgage. We had very little in credit card debt, owned all of our vehicles and had been putting money into some Roth IRA’s and mutual funds outside of the 401(k) I had built up at work. We could add myself and the kids to my wife’s health insurance policy at the hospital, where we had also been contributing to her 403(b). On top of all that my severance and transition package, after over 18 years, was substantial.
Finally, that day in July arrived. One by one we all signed our release papers, turned them into the boss, and walked out the door for the last time. In the parking lot we said our goodbyes, shook hands or hugged, got in our vehicles and drove away. As I was driving home from work that last time I felt a mix of relief and sadness. Relief that it was over and sadness that it was likely many of us would drift apart. And in the back of my mind was a little voice whispering, “Be careful what you ask for, because you just might get it.”
Next up: What in the world am I going to do now?
Tuesday
Here I Go!
Well, here I go.
Writing a blog is something I never thought I would be doing, ever.
Why?
One almost overwhelming reason is because there are so many already out there.
A few other reasons are:
I always seem to be behind the times, never cutting edge.
It will take too much of my time.
There is no way I can come up with enough to write about.
I don’t know anything about it.
I am too old to do this; blogging is for the young and restless.
There is no way this will make me any money.
What all of the above have in common is this:
I don’t know the future and don’t fully understand what I am getting into here.
There, I said it, and I feel a little better already.
I have been experimenting with making alternative income in the real world and online. None of my forays have anything to do with getting rich quickly, most have to do with making a few bucks while sometimes pulling my hair out. The rest have to do with “Don’t Do This.” I will include some money saving ideas as well.
Remember: “If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.”
Starting this blog is just the next item on my list of ideas to try. My intention is to share this experiment with anyone that is interested and enjoys following a story. I will post here once a week to begin with.
My next post will be some personal and employment background to regal you with! The one after that will be about how I first made money using the Internet. Stick with me for a while, it might be interesting…
Buck
Writing a blog is something I never thought I would be doing, ever.
Why?
One almost overwhelming reason is because there are so many already out there.
A few other reasons are:
I always seem to be behind the times, never cutting edge.
It will take too much of my time.
There is no way I can come up with enough to write about.
I don’t know anything about it.
I am too old to do this; blogging is for the young and restless.
There is no way this will make me any money.
What all of the above have in common is this:
I don’t know the future and don’t fully understand what I am getting into here.
There, I said it, and I feel a little better already.
I have been experimenting with making alternative income in the real world and online. None of my forays have anything to do with getting rich quickly, most have to do with making a few bucks while sometimes pulling my hair out. The rest have to do with “Don’t Do This.” I will include some money saving ideas as well.
Remember: “If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.”
Starting this blog is just the next item on my list of ideas to try. My intention is to share this experiment with anyone that is interested and enjoys following a story. I will post here once a week to begin with.
My next post will be some personal and employment background to regal you with! The one after that will be about how I first made money using the Internet. Stick with me for a while, it might be interesting…
Buck
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